historic
/hɪˈstoɹɪk/adjective
historic is spelled H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “historic vs historical” about 2,400 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, historic means “Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in historic?
| Letters | 8: H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 31 times per million words; the 3,052nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is historic?
Historic appears 31 times per million words in written English, the 3,052nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce historic?
- UK /hɪˈstɒɹɪk/
- UK /ɪˈstɒɹɪk/
- US /hɪˈstoɹɪk/
Historic has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-historic.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with historic
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with historic?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as historic from its last stressed vowel (/oɹɪk/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: orchitis.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of historic
- more historic comparative
- most historic superlative
- historick
- hystoric
- historique
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does historic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.
A historic opportunity
- 2
Old-fashioned, untouched by modernity.
Sights are thick sown in the counties of York and Nottingham: the former is more historic.
- 3
Synonym of historical: of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history or the past generally (See usage notes.)
- 4
Various grammatical tenses and moods specially used in retelling past events.
The historic tenses include the imperfect, the pluperfect, and the future perfect.
noun
- 1
obsoleteA history, a non-fiction account of the past.
- 2
obsoleteA historian.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Historic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense having significance in history:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | historique |
| German | historisch, geschichtsträchtig |
| Portuguese | histórico |
| Spanish | histórico |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.